Grindings catcher and shield



May 12, 1953 H. GLOBE 2,637,852

. GRINDING CATCHER AND sumo Filed April 25, 1951 1N VEN TOR. HAROLD GLOB -A TTOB/VEY" Patented May 12, 1953 NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE GRINDINGS CATCHER AND SHIELD Harold Globe, Beverly Hills, Calif.

Application April 23, 1951, Serial No. 222,474

6 Claims.

This invention relates to a shield for catching particles of precious metal ground from dental castings, jewelry articles etc. The general object of the invention is to provide a device which may be worn by a dental technician or a manufacturing jeweler and, when so worn, will function to catch the grindings of precious metal and direct them into a suitable receptacle. It is common practice among dental technicians to grind the gold castings for inlays, bridges etc., over an open drawer of a work table. However, a large percentage of the grindings are thrown clear of the drawer and are not caught. They reach the floor, are swept out by the janitor, and are never recovered.

A basic object of the present invention is to provide a device which may be worn in a position where it will catch the grindings and direct them into a receptacle. A further object is to provide such a device which is of relatively simple and inexpensive construction.

Another object is to provide such a device which is not objectionably uncomfortable when worn by an operator.

Other objects will become apparent in the ensuing specifications and appended drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective View of an operator wearing one of my improved shields and in the act of grinding a casting;

Fig. 2 is a front view of the same;

Fig. 3 is an upper end view of the same;

Fig. 4 is a central longitudinal sectional view of the shield, shown in the operative position;

Fig. 5 is an upper end view of a modified form of the invention; and

Fig. 6 is a detail sectional view of the same taken on line 6-6 of Fig. 5.

Referring now to the drawings in detail, I have shown in Fig. 1 a dental technician, indicated at 4, using a grinding tool 5 for grinding a tooth inlay 6. The workmans work table is indicated at I, and a drawer thereof at 8.

My invention provides a grindings catching shield which, in general, is in the form of a bib. The shield is indicated generally at 9. Shield 9 is constructed from a single sheet of metal, preferably a light metal such as aluminum, or a sheet of plastic or other suitable sheet material. It embodies a central trough or channel [0 flanked by a pair of flat wings ll lying substantially in a common plane. At the top it has an arcuate cut out notch I2 to accommodate it to the workmans neck, so that the upper ends of wings ll may rest against the shoulders, with the neck partially received in notch H2. .The angle a (Fig. 4) defined between the common planev of wings H and a plane intersecting the bottom and upper corners of notch i2, is smaller than the angle, indicated at b in Fig. 4, subtended between the plane of said wings I! and the chest of the operator 4.

The upper corner portions of the wings may have apertures I3 for securing tie strings I i to the shield. Tie stringsld may be tied together behind the back of the neck to support the shield in the position shown in Fig. 1.

Below the wings ll, near the lower end of the catcher, are a pair of laterally opposed arcuate cutout notches l5 which accommodate the forearms of the operator, so that he may reach them around the sides of the shield and in front of the same and may bring them together as shown in Fig. 1 for operating on a pieceof work. The notches [5 are of sufiicient width, longitudinally of the shield, to freely receive the workmans forearms in the operating positions thereof, shown in Fig. 1. The lower sides of notches [5 are defined by a pair of feet 16 which extend laterally from the lower extremity of trough portion ll] of the shield.

The shield is of a proper length to reach from just below the neck of the operator to the bottom of a drawer of a work table of normal height, so that its lower end may be extended into the drawer 8, partially opened, with the feet it resting on the bottom of the drawer. With the feet l6 resting on the bottom of an average work table drawer (e. g. of 3" depth) the upper edges of the feet IE will project just slightly above the upper side of the drawer-front, so that the workman may rest his forearms on the feet 16 and thereby steady the shield. This method of maintaining the shield in a fixed position while he works, will normally be employed by the work man, and accordingly, the use of tie strings i4 is optional.

The lower end of the shield is provided with a notch I! in the trough portion l0 thereof, which is of sufiicient height so that the feet iii of wings ll may rest in firm contact with the bottom of drawer 8, with the common plane of the lower edges of trough l0 and the common plane of wings H and feet l6 subtending an angle, indicated at c, which is no greater than (and preferably smaller than) the angle 41 subtended between said last mentioned plane and the bottom of the drawer 8 in the normal operating position of the shield shown in Fig. 4.

The lower outer corner portions of wings H,

3 defining the upper sides of notches l5, are bent upwardly to provide downwardly and inwardly inclined flanges 18 for guiding the grindings inwardly from wings ll into trough ill.

The form of the invention shown in Figs. 5 and 6 is the same as that described above, with the exception that the upper end of trough IE) is curved upwardly toward the plane of wings l I, as indicated at 19, in order to further relieve the space beneath the upper portion of the shield, for accommodating it to the chest of the workman. Also the trough I0 is of arouate cross section instead of V-shaped cross section as in Figs. 1-4. These modifications are disclosed merely by way of example of variations that may be made without departing from the essential char-- acteristics of the invention.

It will now be apparent that the trough 10 will catch the majority of the grindings and direct them into the drawer. Any grindings missing the trough l-D will impinge against the lateral wings I l and be guided flanges l8 into trough l0 and thence into the drawer ii.

The value or the invention will be quite apparent. The gri-ndings from gold and other precious metals, lost in the average dental technicians laboratories, constitute a loss of many dollars per month, which the invention recovers.

I claim:

1. A shield for use by dental techn u facturingi jewelers and the like in catci ticles ground from a precious metal prising a sheet comprising. a central troll tion and symmetrical side portions disposed in a common plane forwardly of said tr l1 portion, said trough portion constituting substantially halfthe width of. the sheet and side portions each: constituting substantially one qua-r ter the width of the sheet, said sheet having a pair of lateral notches each having a depth substantially coextensive with the width of a respective sideportion. said lateral notches being centered on a transverse axis located roughly one quarter of the height of the shield upwardly from the lower edge thereof, whereby each side portion is divided into a relatively long upper portion constituting a wing and a relatively short lower portion constituting a foot, said shield having at its upper end a rounded central notch to receive the neck of a workman and being of a width between said lateral notches just narrow enough to allow the arms of the workman to be extended around the sides of the shield and the hands brought together for executing the grinding operation directly in front of the shield.

2. A shield as defined in claim 1, wherein said central notch is substantially coextensive with said trough portion in width.

3'. A shield as defined in claim 2, including a triangular notch in the lower end of said shield, substantially coextensive with said trough portion, in width.

4. A shield as defined in claim 3 Wings have forwardly bent lower tions, constituting deflectors that downwardly and inwardly 5. A shield as defined in claim 1, wings have forwardly bent lower tions, constituting deflectors thatdownwardly and inwardly.

6. A shield as defined in claim 1, wherein said trough portion is V-shaped in cross section.

HAROLD GLOBE.

wherein said corner porare inclined wherein said corner porare inclined References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 638363 Small Nov. 7, 1899 890,005 Wright June 9, 1908 2,569,915 Ars'enault l Oct. 2, 1951 FOREIGN PATENTS Number 7 Country Date 206,719 Great Britain Nov. 15, 1923 

